Papandreou under fire for Mideast visit
A growing feeling that PASOK is heading for the post-Simitis era has begun to shake the ruling party. Indicative of this is the fact that Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who has been presented as the prime minister’s most likely successor, has started to come under fire from other likely candidates. Yesterday, it was PASOK general secretary Costas Laliotis who took a dig at Papandreou, commenting on the foreign minister’s visit to Israel and Palestine with his Turkish counterpart, Ismail Cem, on Thursday. «Every Middle East initiative by the Greek government and the foreign minister is positive. But Mr Cem’s presence cannot be credible, because Turkey cannot call for UN resolutions to be respected when it has not applied them in Cyprus for 25 years,» Laliotis told To Vima newspaper. Government spokesman Christos Protopappas chose neutrality. «The foreign minister’s initiative is within the framework of government decisions,» he said. But he also recognized Laliotis’s right to express his objections. Such objections were raised also at a meeting of PASOK’s influential Executive Bureau in the foreign minister’s absence on Wednesday night by Laliotis, Public Works Minister Vasso Papandreou, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos and others. The foreign minister does not appear prepared to rise to the bait and is reported to believe that the criticism has no impact on public opinion of him and his actions. The criticism also appears to confirm that Papandreou is a front runner to succeed Costas Simitis. Sources said Papandreou was expected to discuss the issue in private with Simitis and with Laliotis. Commenting on Thursday night, after his return from the Middle East, the foreign minister said, «I have been informed of what the papers wrote, but because I am a member of the Executive Bureau and know very well what is said in the bureau and then what is written in the newspapers, I will wait until I talk with my comrades.» He noted that «the initiative for my visit was taken within the context of a decision taken by the government.» Voters can receive further details regarding the new system and their numbers on the 1464 hotline, or on the ministry’s website.
